For the second consecutive year, the Lady Toppers are heading to the semifinals of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament after a 72-54 victory over Hofstra Sunday in Diddle Arena.

“I thought starting on Monday night we saw typical postseason play,” coach Mary Taylor Cowles said. “Physical basketball, and it is like that every year. Whether it’s WNIT or NCAA (tournament), it’s just come to be known that the game gets a little more physical, and you can respond or you can whine about it, and I thought beginning Monday night, our ladies really responded.”

Western was able to take advantage of a record-breaking night by junior forward Crystal Kelly. Within three minutes, Kelly reached two milestones in the Western records.

A lay up at the 9:15 mark in the second half put Kelly over the 2,000 point mark for her career. Less than two minutes later, she hit another lay up to take sole possession of the Lady Toppers’ single season scoring record, eclipsing Natalie Powers’ mark of 736 points during the 2000-2001 season.

The game was the third consecutive home game for the Lady Toppers, who will play on the road for the first time in this tournament when they travel to Wisconsin for a 7 p.m. game Wednesday.

Reach David Harten at sports@wkuherald.com.